1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to an apparatus and a method used during a batch deposition process, and more specifically, embodiments relate to a batch processing chamber and a batch processing method for depositing a material using a processing gas having excited species.
2. Description of the Related Art
A substrate fabrication process is often evaluated by two related and important factors, which are device yield and the cost of ownership (COO). The COO, while affected by a number of factors, is greatly affected by the number of substrates processed per time, i.e., the throughput of the fabrication process, and cost of processing materials. Batch processing has been found to be promising in the attempt to increase throughput. However, providing processing conditions uniformly over an increased number of substrates is a challenging task.
In addition, plasma assisted ALD or CVD processes, UV assisted (photo-assisted) ALD or CVD processes, and ALD or CVD processes having assistance directly by ions provided to a processing area have been shown to be beneficial to some deposition processes. For example, UV and plasma assisted processes have been demonstrated to provide good film quality for high-k dielectrics which are increasingly needed as device scale approaches sub 65 nm applications. Plasma assisted ALD or CVD have also been demonstrated to reduce thermal budget and process time requirements as compared to similar thermally assisted processes.
Providing uniform process conditions over an increased number of substrates is even more challenging if additional assisting treatments are added to the processes as described above for plasma assisted ALD or CVD processes, UV assisted (photo-assisted) ALD or CVD processes, and ALD or CVD processes having assistance directly by ions provided to a processing area.
Plasma assisted ALD processes have used remote plasma generation to attempt exposing substrates to uniform plasma conditions within a batch chamber. The plasma is introduced through a delivery system such as the gas delivery system of the batch tool. However, this process may suffer from the relaxation of the plasma prior to entering the process region.
Therefore, there is a need for an apparatus and a method for uniformly and effectively depositing materials during ALD or CVD processes in a batch tool with plasma assistance, UV assistance, or ion assistance.